Once Upon a Star

Chapter 2-1

Chapter 2

“Hey, Wayne.”

“Yeah?”

“Do you believe in reincarnation?”

Wayne inhaled deeply as he continued to sit on the meadow while staring at the lake in front of him. He could hear the sounds of crickets as he gazed higher at the evening sky. One bright, shining star in the distance caught his attention for a brief moment. He adjusted the positions of his palms behind him on the ground so he could balance himself better. Then he turned his head to the right and smiled at the younger man seated cross-legged next to him. “What about you, Jimmy?”

Jimmy wrinkled his nose and glared at Wayne. “It’s James, jerk. James! You know I hate it when you call me Jimmy.”

Wayne threw back his head and laughed as he stared at the evening sky, filled with twinkling stars. “Okay, okay. Fine, James! So, do you?”

“What?”

“Love me,” Wayne said in a teasing tone before winking at James.

The man blushed a deep shade of red, which was noticeable even in the evening light. “As if. In your dreams maybe.”

Wayne steadied himself with his left hand and slung his right arm across James’s shoulders before pulling him closer. James struggled a little to get away from him, but Wayne held on tightly until James eventually gave up, chuckled, and leaned against his shoulder.

“Do you love me?”

Wayne could see that James’s cheeks grew impossibly redder. Even the tip of his right ear seemed to flush. After a few seconds of extended silence, James nodded. “I love you with my heart, body, and soul. Forever and ever.”

Wayne grinned. “Same.”

James narrowed his eyes, irritation on his face. “You cheat!”

Wayne chortled. “How did I do that?”

“You need to use your words.”

“I did.”

“No, you didn’t.”

Wayne snickered as he kissed James on the tip of his nose, causing the younger man to squirm. “I, Wayne Lee, love you, James Wong. With all my heart, body, and soul. Forever and ever. I’ll make you a solemn promise right here, right now. A vow even.”

James visibly teared up. “What’s that?”

Wayne c****d his head toward the most brilliant star in the sky, the one he had noticed earlier. “If there really is such a thing as reincarnation, with that blazing star as our witness, I give you my word I’ll search for you in our next lifetimes, and we will be together always.”

A lone tear streamed down James’s left cheek. “Do you promise?”

“I promise,” Wayne replied before pressing his lips against James’s…

Sterling Lim opened his eyes and stared at the ceiling. His face was slightly wet from tears. He had never dreamed that vividly in the past. He had certainly never cried because of a sad dream or a horrible nightmare. He wiped his palms over his face before he sat up in bed. He allowed himself to rest a bit longer before making his way toward the bathroom and taking a quick shower. He had many things to do, and he would have to start on time. Otherwise, he might end up coming home late from work. Again.

“Where’s the photographer?” Sterling asked Marsha, one of his employees, as he stepped into the photo studio at exactly eight o’clock.

Marsha seemed terrified, and Sterling had a sinking feeling about it immediately. He had no doubt he wouldn’t like what Marsha had to say. “Cynthia is not feeling well, Mr. Lim.”

Sterling could feel the irritation burning deep in his gut. Cynthia had used this same excuse many times before, and Sterling had tolerated her again and again because she was an excellent photographer. However, he was running out of patience for her lack of professionalism. He, along with everyone else who worked in his company, knew that she was, more likely than not, hungover after a night of partying. He remained quiet for a few seconds longer.

He noticed Marsha fidgeting. She was also trembling a little. Sterling knew he could be really fierce toward his employees when they deserved to be reprimanded. It didn’t help that he was cold toward people most of the time. Marsha had nothing to worry about, though. Sterling did his best to stay calm as he cleared his throat.

“Thank you, Marsha. I’ll handle Cynthia myself,” he informed her before glancing at all of his other employees and the models waiting for the photo shoot to begin. The atmosphere felt really tense. It was as if everyone was holding their breath and anticipating him to explode in anger. He inhaled deeply to get ahold of his temper. “Does anyone know of an awesome photographer, preferably someone reliable, who can assist us right now? I really want the photo shoot to be over and done with before six o’clock tonight at the latest.”

Sterling was annoyed when silence greeted him. He was about to give up when an unfamiliar young man raised his arm.

“Sir, I have a friend who happens to be a freelance photographer. His name is Zeke Wu. He’s the same age as me, only twenty-two years old, but he has been working as a freelance photographer for years. Since freshman year in high school, in fact.”

Sterling nodded. “Is he good at what he does?”

The guy walked briskly toward Sterling while tapping on the screen of his smartphone before passing it over to him. Sterling looked at the slides of photographs one right after the other. Whoever Zeke Wu was, he was definitely talented.

“I can give him a call right now, sir. I’m sure he can arrive at the studio in about thirty minutes.”

Sterling returned the smartphone to the man. “Do that, please. Who are you, by the way? I have so many employees in this building, I’m having a hard time keeping track of everybody.”

“Robert, sir. I’m new here. Miss Lydia from the costume department hired me two weeks ago.”

Sterling now remembered signing the various forms to approve of the hiring of some new employees a couple of weeks back. “Right. So, you’re the new costume designer then?”

Robert nodded. “Assistant, sir. Miss Lydia is still the main designer.”

“Okay. Are you and Zeke childhood friends or neighbors?”

“Yes to both of those, sir,” Robert replied. “We also attended the same university. Just different faculties.”

“I see.”

“Should I call him now?”

“Yes. Tell him to meet me in my office so we can discuss the details.”

“Will do, sir.”

“Thank you.” Sterling refocused his attention on his other employees. “As for the rest of you, make sure you stick around. Do not go anywhere. Once the new photographer gets here, we will begin the photo shoot.”

After that, he made his way out from the studio into the lobby, entering the private elevator that would get him all the way up to his private office on the one-hundredth floor. Then he instructed Lance, his personal assistant, to contact Cynthia to inform her that her contract was terminated because she’d breached the terms. Lance also had to instruct security to accompany Cynthia whenever she came into the office to pack her stuff and escort her out from the building. Last but not least, Lance had to show Zeke into Sterling’s office the moment the photographer arrived.

Sterling didn’t have the time to deal with any of that since he had many electronic documents to read on his laptop. He owned several businesses, all housed inside this building. They ranged from the running of various magazines, production companies, and broadcast stations, all the way to restaurants, coffee shops, and bakeries. Initially, he had invented a job-search application for smartphones when he was a freshman in the university. He had done it for fun, and also because he’d been bored in school, his classes being too easy.

He didn’t expect the application to become wildly successful, earning him his first million-dollar payday in less than a month. His business empire grew by leaps and bounds over the years, and he had a hand in nearly every industry out there. At thirty years old, with his net worth of nearly ninety billion dollars, he was one of the youngest self-made billionaires in the world. At times, he wondered if he had been overly ambitious, and he would toy with the idea of retiring for good. He already had a lot of money. His future was secure. However, he changed his mind every single time. He liked to keep busy. Most importantly, he knew he would go insane if he was left to his own devices with nothing to fill his free moments day in and day out.

In addition, he hated those stupid dreams he’d been having for many years now, dreams revolving around two men named Wayne and James. Sterling didn’t recognize them. Not even when the dreams grew clearer with each passing year, and he was able to see their faces. He would always wake up with this weird aching in his heart. Unfortunately, he couldn’t research the men. He might know their full names, but way too many people in the world bore the same monikers, and Sterling couldn’t narrow them down.

The only time he didn’t think about Wayne and James was when he was preoccupied with one matter after another at the office. Work kept him sane. Granted, he could achieve the same result by exercising like a madman possessed in the gym at home, but he couldn’t do that for ten, twelve hours a day without collapsing from exhaustion. At least in the office, he had multiple businesses that required all of his attention, and he could concentrate on them. It was better than going crazy at home.

His businesses were all doing well at the moment. Now, all he had to worry about was the photo shoot. It was for the tenth anniversary of one of his magazines, and he was determined to turn it into a grand, celebratory event. Hopefully, Zeke would turn out to be a wonderful photographer. Otherwise, Sterling would have to search for someone else. That would mean a temporary delay in his plan, and he hated it when something like that occurred under his watch.

Someone knocking on his office door startled him out of his reverie. “Mr. Lim, Mr. Wu is here.”

Sterling nodded. “Thank you, Lance. Show him in, and can you get him something to drink, please?”

“Certainly, sir.”

Sterling put away his laptop for the time being. He could always read the documents later. He didn’t have much of a social life anyway.